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The University of Winnipeg

Open Access

  1. What Is Open Access
  2. Benefits of Open Access
  3. Publishing Open Access at University of Winnipeg

“Societal advancement is made possible through widespread and barrier-free access to cutting-edge research and knowledge.” — Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications

What is Open Access?

Open-access (OA) literature is literature that is freely available online in perpetuity, free of most copyright and licensing restrictions, and published with the consent of the author or copyright-holder. Readers do not require a subscription or any other form of payment, either personally or through their university or library, to access the content. They may download, copy and redistribute an Open Access publication, so long as it is attributed to the author.

While Open Access archives may contain unreformed preprints, scholarly open access publications in their final form typically adhere to the same standards, including peer review, as other scholarly literature.

Some definitions

Option 1: Green Open Access. Publish your research in a journal of your choice, then deposit a version of your article in an open access repository, either one specialized for your discipline or one run by your institution such as WinnSpace.    Option 2: Gold Open Access. Publish your research in either a hybrid journal (which offers both subscription and OA articles) or a fully Open Access journal. For journals that use Article Processing Charges (APCs) as a means to fund open access, these APCs are eligible expenses for Tri-Agency grants.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

  • An Open-Access Repository is a central repository (such as PubMed Central) or an institutional repository that makes its content available without charge and without requiring an institutional affiliation. The University of Winnipeg hosts WinnSpace, an Open Access institutional repository for University scholarship.
  • An Open-Access Journal provides immediate open access to all of their articles, usually on the publisher's website
  • Gold Open Access means the author publishes an article in an open-access journal
  • Green Open Access means the author self-archives a journal article in an open-access repository such as WinnSpace, possibly alongside publication in a traditional journal; similarly on the SHERPA/RoMEO website the code green signifies that a journal allows its authors to self-archive

Benefits of Open Access

  • Open access articles are freely available to the public and to researchers from the global community. This makes research available to policy-makers, health-care workers, educators and scholars in the developing world.
  • Studies have shown that Open Access publications are read and cited more often than other publications.
  • When authors assign copyright to a commercial publisher, they normally forfeit the right to copy, distribute, or repurpose their own work, or to give others permission to do so. Authors who publish in Open Access journals retain their copyright and control their own work.
  • Open Access publication removes price barriers. Access to a single academic journal may cost thousands of dollars a year. Removing subscription costs means that readers are not limited by their own ability to pay, or by the budgets of institutions where they have library privileges.
  • Some funding agencies require Open Access publication of the research they sponsor; if not immediately, then within a certain period of time (see SHERPA/JULIET). As of February 27, 2015, Open Access publication is required by the SSHRC, NSERC, and CIHR.

Publishing Open Access at University of Winnipeg

The University of Winnipeg supports a number of Open Access initiatives at an institutional level. These options include:

WinnSpace

The University hosts WinnSpace, our open access institutional repository, as a key knowledge mobilization tool. WinnSpace provides access to and increases visibility of University of Winnipeg scholarship, and is freely available to all. Publishing a copy of your research on WinnSpace can help maximize impact. For more information, please visit the WinnSpace Institutional Repository.

Off-setting Article Processing Charges for Open Access

When the Library pays for academic subscriptions, some publishers offer institutional authors a deal on Open Access publication fees. Each discount is different, and you will need to ensure you identify yourself as a UWinnipeg author prior to your article being published.

American Chemical Society

Authors affiliated with an institution participating in the license agreement are eligible to receive a 250 USD discount on the article processing charge (APC) for all ACS hybrid journals. The APC discount is applied upon acceptance of manuscript. Authors must indicate their institutional affiliation upon submitting of their manuscript in order to benefit from the discount.

Cambridge University Press Journals

The University of Winnipeg's subscription to Cambridge University Press Journals through CRKN entitles its faculty to publish an unlimited number of their articles as open access in Cambridge hybrid and gold journals at no charge for the duration of the agreement. The article types eligible are Research articles, Review articles, Rapid Communications, Brief Reports, and Case Reports.

Elsevier

The University of Winnipeg's subscription to Elsevier journals through CRKN entitles our faculty to a 20% discount on APCS for select Elsevier titles. 

Institute of Physics (IOP)

Corresponding authors affiliated with CRKN institutions participating in the CRKN-IOP Open Access agreement will be able to publish an unlimited number of their articles under an open access license in select IOP hybrid and gold journals at no charge for the duration of the agreement. The article types are intended to cover all original research and review-type content (papers, reviews, letters).

SAGE Journals

The University of Winnipeg's subscription to SAGE Premier through CKRN entitles its faculty to no APC costs for SAGE Choice journals and a 40% discount on APC costs for SAGE Gold OA journals.  Authors will need to self-identify as being affiliated with a CRKN institution that licenses Premier All-Access and request the discount.

Taylor & Francis Journals

The University of Winnipeg's subscription to Taylor & Francis Online through CKRN entitles its faculty to a 25% discount on Article Processing Charges. Upon selecting the institutional affiliation as the U. of W., the discount will be applied automatically to the invoice.

Wiley

During the term of the 2023-2024 agreement, eligible articles accepted for publication in Wiley's hybrid journals by corresponding authors affiliated with participating CRKN institutions may be published under an open access license (if chosen by the author) with no APC charged to the author or the library/institution. There are no limitations placed on the number of eligible articles that can be published in hybrid journals during the term of this agreement. Eligible article types are: case study, commentary, data article, education, lecture, method and protocol, perspective, practice and policy, rapid publication, research article, review article, short communication, and technical note.

Articles accepted for publication in Wiley's gold journals are not eligible under this agreement. Authors will continue to be charged APCs for accepted articles in these journals.

Related Pages

Open Access Resources

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